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Notes from a 2004 Book Signing
By Kevin Coupe ---- Kevin Coupe attended a breakfast talk at the Stamford Marriott Hotel in Connecticut on 10 March 2004 and supplied the following. ---- Having interviewed Parker more than a dozen years ago for a newspaper article, I was a little surprised by how much he has aged. He seemed almost frail when he walked into the room, though he joked that he’d had knee replacement surgery and offered to show his scar. (”You don't get this at most author events,” he joked.) His voice also seemed a bit thinner than I remembered it...but he is in his seventies, after all, and age has treated him better than a lot of other people. Other than that, he seemed cheerful, charming and self-deprecating, as usual. And he not only spoke and answered questions, but signed books until everyone was happy...including for one guy who brought a stack of a dozen hardcover Spenser novels to be signed. (Not me.) Parker seemed, to be honest, a lot more enthusiastic about “Double Play” than “Bad Business.” He described it as a work of love, and said that “Jackie Robinson was one of the most important people of the 20th century. He changed not just baseball, but the world.” He emphasized that the Robinson story would be seen through the eyes of a bodyguard named Burke, in the same way that he has to write about Hawk through Spenser’s eyes. He also said that the next Spenser novel will be a “Hawk book,” though still written from Spenser’s perspective. He also has another western coming out in spring 2005, a Sunny Randall book coming out this fall, and a Jesse Stone book in fall 2005. Parker also said he was playing with the idea of a big book that would cross-pollinate characters from all the books, but declined to give any details until he has figured it all out himself. “I’m going to keep doing this until I drop dead or you stop buying the books,” he said. “And I’d rather not drop dead.” Also, he downplayed any Hollywood interest in any of his books, saying he just didn’t care whether anything developed there or not. “During the three years of Spenser: For Hire, I made three times as much money on the novels as I did as a consultant on the series. And you know what a consultant’s job is? To take the check down to the bank on Monday morning and deposit it. The consultant’s wife’s job is to take the money out on Tuesday morning and spend it.” Good stuff all around. BTW: Kevin has long been a valued contributor to this site so let me quote from http://kevincoupe.com/ Kevin Coupe is the founder and "Content Guy" of http://www.morningnewsbeat.com/, as well as a regular and active contributor to a wide range of publications, and a frequent speaker to business and academic groups. His work now is featured in a number of venues -- in print, video and online -- as he offers a unique perspective on "Main Street" business in the U.S. and around the world. ---- Back to the Robert B. Parker article index